Enabling a multi-dimensional collaborative effort system

ABSTRACT

Methods to provide, by a processor, a user interface allowing a first user access to a collaborative effort system. Responsive to the first user utilizing the user interface, the methods, systems, and computer program products generate a plurality of threads within the collaborative effort system for a single discussion group of the collaborative effort system; authorize a second user access to at least a first thread of the plurality of threads after the generation of the plurality of threads; associate the second user with a user group after the generation of the plurality of threads; and authorize the user group access to at least a second thread of the plurality of threads. The methods generate a plurality of icons displayed in the user interface for the plurality of threads. The methods also displays in the user interface a priority of a problem to be solved through the collaborative effort system.

DOMESTIC PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/865,148, titled “ENABLING A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL COLLABORATIVE EFFORTSYSTEM” filed Sep. 25, 2015, the contents of which are incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to problem solving, and more specifically,to methods and systems to enable multi-dimensional collaborative effortsystems.

Within systems management, problems may arise that may requirecollaborative efforts to resolve. Collaborative efforts may includeconference calls and/or online group discussions, such as virtual warrooms and group chats. The group chat may be a vital collaboration tool,yet group chat programs and application may not be built to handleintense and time sensitive discussions and/or a large scale discussionhaving multiple aspects to it. One solution to a large scale discussionis to create multiple virtual group chats at the same time to probe intodifferent areas. As multiple teams are divided up, there is more work oradditional collaboration effort or tools that may be required to keepeach of the separate groups connected and apprised of progress. Oneissue that may arise is that one group may not be able to easily andreadily share information with another group as the other group may bepart of a separate virtual war room.

SUMMARY

According to embodiments of the present invention, methods, systems, andcomputer program products are provided for providing, by a processor, auser interface allowing a first user access to a collaborative effortsystem. Responsive to the first user utilizing the user interface, themethods, systems, and computer program products generate a plurality ofthreads within the collaborative effort system for a single discussiongroup of the collaborative effort system, wherein each thread of theplurality of threads comprises a different sub-discussion group of thesingle discussion group of the collaborative effort system; authorize asecond user access to at least a first thread of the plurality ofthreads after the generation of the plurality of threads; associate thesecond user with a user group after the generation of the plurality ofthreads; and after associating the second user with the user group,authorize the user group access to at least a second thread of theplurality of threads. The methods, systems, and computer programproducts generate a plurality of icons displayed in the user interfacefor the plurality of threads, wherein a first icon of the plurality oficons is displayed in the user interface in a first color coding,wherein a second icon of the plurality of icons is displayed in the userinterface in a second color coding. The methods, systems, and computerprogram products also generate a third and fourth icon displayed in theuser interface to indicate that the second user is authorized to accessthe first and second threads, wherein the third icon is displayed in theuser interface in the first color coding, wherein the fourth icon isdisplayed in the user interface in the second color coding, whereinauthorization to a thread comprises an ability to view and participatein the thread, and displays in the user interface a priority of aproblem to be solved through the collaborative effort system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion ofthe specification. The forgoing and other features, and advantages ofthe invention are apparent from the following detailed description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a system for enabling collaborativeefforts to generate collaborative content in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative view of a user interface of acollaborative application incorporating features in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative view of a user interface box inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 4 depicts an illustrative view of a user interface box inaccordance with another embodiment; and

FIG. 5 depicts a flow process of mining data in accordance with anembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments described herein provide systems and processes forgenerating and managing multiple chat features within a collaborativeeffort or system, such as a war room, chat room, dialogue program,social network, etc. Further, various embodiments described hereinprovide enabling multiple chat threads within a single collaborativeeffort system. Moreover, various embodiments described herein enableselectively enabling specific users or groups of users to one or more ofa multiple of threads within a collaborative discussion system.

As problems arise in various systems, depending on the seriousnessand/or complexity of the problem, the problem may be routed to one ormore subject matter experts (SME). As applications and systems haveincreased in complexity, multiple SMEs may participate to collectivelyand collaboratively figure out where a given problem lies and how to fixit. That is, multiple SMEs (or other persons) may perform acollaborative effort to understand a given problem, identify where theproblem exists, and find a resolution to the problem. In high pressureproblems it is common to have upward of twenty-five or more peoplecollaborating to solve a single problem. Further, in certain situations,various groups of SMEs that may specialize in particular areas may begrouped to address sub-issues, sub-problems, or various specific aspectsof a larger problem that has been identified. SMEs or various groups ofSMEs may also be employees of other companies that are contracted tosupport their specific technical area.

One option to enable a collaborative effort is the use of group chatand/or networking, which may be the basis for group collaboration in a“virtual war room” capability. As used herein, the term “collaborativeeffort system” will be used to refer to a group chat, virtual war room,instant messaging, short message services, blog, website, onlinecommunity, news feed, email, wiki, etc., or other social orcollaborative application, process, and/or system. The collaborativeeffort system may contain the dialog of interactions back and forthbetween several SMEs and other persons as they chase leads andultimately uncover key symptoms of the problem. The collaborative effortsystem may also include the discussion that the SMEs and other personshave when they find or identify the problem and the actions they took inresponse to the problem, whether the actions were successful or not.That is, the collaborative effort system will thus contain all of theinformation uncovered through the problem-resolution cycle that isperformed by the SMEs within the collaborative effort system. Thisinformation may include hundreds or thousands of messages spanning notonly the ultimate resolution to the problem, but may include all of thedetails about the paths and options investigated and subsequentlycleared of being a cause of the problem and/or potential solutions thatwere not completed or sufficient to solve the problem adequately.

Certain complex problems may require SMEs and other persons from varioustechnical backgrounds to discuss a feature or aspect of the problem andresolve an issue or problem within the specific technical area. As such,multiple, different groups of people may be working on different aspectsof a problem. Embodiments described herein enable a single collaborativeeffort system that incorporates multiple sub-discussions wherein usersmay be assigned to various sub-discussions (all or a portion thereof),and thus enables synchronization of work between the various groups anddiscussions.

Creating multiple collaborative effort systems is one solution whensetting off multiple teams to focus on different parts of a problem, butthis may result in a fragmented approach. However, as disclosed herein,a single collaborative effort system is employed and leverages groupchat, threads, and authorization to enable a single discussion formatwith multiple parts. During an active discussion in a collaborativeeffort system, users within a sub-portion of the collaborative effortsystem may each be able to post comments, pictures, questions, etc. asis normal.

Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a system 100 for enabling acollaborative effort system and tracking and managing portions of adiscussion in accordance with an embodiment is shown. The system 100includes a chat or discussion application, hereinafter collaborativeeffort system 110, for performing the processing described herein thatis executed by one or more computer programs located on a host system104 and/or a user system(s) 102.

The system 100 depicted in FIG. 1 includes one or more user systems 102through which users, e.g., SMEs and other persons, at one or moregeographic locations may contact the host system 104 to initiateprograms and/or participate in the collaborative effort system 110. Theuser systems 102 are coupled to the host system 104 via a network 106.Each user system 102 may be implemented using a general-purpose computerexecuting a computer program for carrying out the processes describedherein. The user systems 102 may be user devices such as personalcomputers (e.g., a laptop, a tablet computer, a cellular telephone,etc.) or host attached terminals. If the user systems 102 are personalcomputers, in some embodiments, the processing described herein may beshared by a user system 102 and the host system 104. The user systems102 may also include game consoles, network management devices, andfield programmable gate arrays. In addition, multiple user systems 102and/or host systems 104 may be concurrently operating to aggregate webinteractions for personalized usage.

The network 106 may be any type of known network including, but notlimited to, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), aglobal network (e.g. Internet), a virtual private network (VPN), a cloudnetwork, and an intranet. The network 106 may be implemented using awireless network or any kind of physical network implementation known inthe art. A user system 102 may be coupled to the host system throughmultiple networks 106 (e.g., cellular and Internet) so that not all usersystems 102 are coupled to the host system 104 through the same network106. One or more of the user systems 102 and the host system 104 may beconnected to the network 106 in a wireless fashion. In one non-limitingembodiment, the network is the Internet and one or more user systems 102execute a user interface application (e.g. a web browser) to contact thehost system 104 through the network 106. In another non-limiting exampleembodiment, the user system 102 is connected directly (i.e., not throughthe network 106) to the host system 104. In a further non-limitingembodiment, the host system 104 is connected directly to or contains astorage device 108.

The storage device 108 includes data relating to the collaborativeeffort system 110 and/or data relating to a problem to be solved. Insome embodiments, the storage device 108 may be implemented using avariety of devices for storing electronic information. In an exampleembodiment, data stored in the storage device 108 includes, but is notlimited to, one or more search data and search history databases, andother data utilized by embodiments described herein. It is understoodthat the storage device 108 may be implemented using memory contained inthe host system 104 or that it may be a separate physical device. Thestorage device 108 may be logically addressable as a consolidated datasource across a distributed environment that includes the network 106.Information stored in the storage device 108 may be retrieved andmanipulated via the host system 104 and/or via a user system 102.

The host system 104 depicted in FIG. 1 may be implemented using one ormore servers operating in response to a computer program stored in astorage medium accessible by the server. The host system 104 may operateas a network server (e.g., a web server) to communicate with the usersystem 102. The host system 104 handles sending and receivinginformation to and from the user system 102 and can perform associatedtasks. The host system 104 may also include a firewall to preventunauthorized access to the host system 104 and enforce any limitationson authorized access, e.g., permitting only designated SMEs and/or otherauthorized persons to access the collaborative effort system 110. Forinstance, an administrator may have access to the entire system and haveauthority to modify portions of the system and/or permissions thereto. Afirewall may be implemented using conventional hardware and/or softwareas is known in the art.

The host system 104 may also operate as an application server. The hostsystem 104, in such embodiments, may execute one or more computerprograms, including the collaborative effort system 110, to provideaspects of embodiments as described herein. Processing may be shared bythe user system 102 and the host system 104 by providing an applicationto the user system 102. Alternatively, the user system 102 can include astand-alone software application for performing a portion or all of theprocessing described herein. As previously described, it is understoodthat separate servers may be utilized to implement the network serverfunctions and the application server functions. Alternatively, thenetwork server, the firewall, and the application server may beimplemented by a single server executing computer programs to performthe requisite functions.

During a collaborative effort, one or more users, e.g., SMEs and otherpersons, may use a user system 102 to communicate through the network106 and participate in a discussion on the host system 104 employing thecollaborative effort system 110. In some embodiments, users or groups ofusers may be divided into different groups and/or threads that arecarried out in parallel.

Turning to FIG. 2, a non-limiting example of a collaborative effortsystem user interface 200 incorporating an example embodiment of thepresent disclosure is shown. The user interface 200 may be a visualrepresentation of the collaborative effort system 110 presented on auser device 102 as executed by a host system 104. User interface 200 mayinclude one or more windows configured to provide functionality and/orinformation therein. For example, a first window 202 may provide generalinformation about the particular collaborative effort system, a secondwindow 204 may provide information and contain content regarding theprocess to reach a solution to the problem (i.e., a discussion), and athird window 206 may provide additional information and/or optionswithin the user interface 200. Each of these example potential windowsof the non-limiting embodiment will now be described.

The first window 202 may provide general information about theparticular collaborative effort system. As shown, first window 202includes a war room number (“war room 43”) and a description of thegeneral problem to be solved within war room 43: “I am unable to accessABC.” ABC may be a program, application, server, website, and/or othervirtual or physical element that may be subject to one or more problems.Also included in the first window 202 may be one or more modifiablefields 202 a that provide additional general information related to theproblem, including, but not limited to priority, status, impact, etc. Asshown, FIG. 2 indicates a matter number “ticket 1001.” Additionally, apriority field is present, and as shown is indicated as “Priority 1.”Impact information may also be provided, indicating the impact of theidentified problem, and here is shown as 10,000 users are impacted.Finally, as shown, first window 202 may include a status field thatindicates the status of the progress on the problem, and is shown as“investigating.” Those of skill in the art will appreciate that thefirst window 202 may include other fields, information, etc. and/orcombinations thereof.

The second window 204 may provide information and contain contentregarding the process to reach a solution to the problem. That is, thesecond window 204 may be a chat window, discussion, threads, or log ofthe process including the content of the collaborative effort submittedby users of the collaborative effort system. The content may berepresented by one or more log elements 204 a that are located withinthe second window 204. The log elements 204 a may be threads, commentson threads, entries provided by users, pictures, URL links, etc.,hereinafter “content.” Comments on specific threads may be provided in acomments element 204 c. For example, each log element 204 a may be athread that addresses one sub-problem, a comment directed to a specificuser, thoughts and conversations, etc., or combinations thereof.Alternatively, or in combination, log elements 204 a may be each entrywithin the collaborative effort system within the second window 204.Each log element 204 a may be an entry in the collaborative effortsystem in interface 200 that has already been submitted. The logelements 204 a thus form the content of the collaborative effort system.

New thread-level log elements 204 a may be created by a user interactingwith an entry element 204 b. Entry element 204 b may be configured toallow users to type information into the second window 204, such asprovide a comment, add a new thread and comments therein, and/or posequestions. The entry element 204 b is how a user may generate a new logelement 204 a, thus expanding the top-level or thread-level contentwithin the collaborative effort system. Similarly, log elements 204 amay be created within a thread by a user interacting with commentselement 204 c. Comments element 204 c may be configured to allow usersto type information into the second window 204, such as to provide acomment and/or pose a question; all within the context of a giventhread. The comments element 204 c may be used to generate new logelements 204 d within a specific thread, thus expanding the discussionwithin a given thread. As the entry elements 204 b and comments element204 c are used to create new content, the log elements 204 a, 204 c thatare already within the second window 204 may scroll upward and out ofthe second window 204.

The third window 206 may provide additional information and/or optionswithin the user interface 200. For example, as shown, the third window206 may include supporting elements 206 a. One supporting element 206 amay be a status element that indicates the duration of the problem,e.g., when the problem was identified, and may also include milestone orevent timers such as indicators when meetings or calls may be requiredof the users of the collaborative effort system. Supporting elements 206a may also include links or other methods of retrieving and/or accessinginformation, programs, etc. that are outside of the interface 200 and/oroutside of the collaborative effort system. For example, a supportingelement 206 a may provide direct access for a user to access operationalor ownership details of an application shown here as “App: ABC.”Supporting elements 206 a may also include a listing of the users (list206 b), e.g., the SMEs and other persons involved with theproject/problem, and further may enable direct contact between one ormore specific users. For example, a supporting element 206 a may enablea direct messaging service to users of the collaborative effort system.Other user-specific information may be provided within the supportingelements 206 a, such as user position, user access, company affiliation,etc. Further, links to runbooks or other pre-existing material that areassociated with the problem and/or associated with systems, elements,etc. associated with the program or other systems that includes theproblem may be provided in supporting elements 206 a.

As noted, one of the supporting elements 206 a in the third window 206may be the list 206 b of the participants and/or groups participating inthe collaborative effort system. Each of the users within the list 206 bmay be associated, authorized, and/or organized into various groups thatmay have access to some or all of the threads of the collaborativeeffort system. An indicator 206 c may be provided with each user orgroup of users, indicating the group they are associated with, and thusindicating the access or authorization to which the particular user orgroup of users may have be provided.

Although a single configuration of a user interface 200 of acollaborative effort system is shown herein, those of skill in the artwill appreciate that the user interface 200 may take any number offormats and/or configurations. For example, in some embodiments, theuser interface 200 may comprise a single window with multiple aspectsthereto and/or all of the above describe capabilities may be configuredwithin a single window or application user interface. In otherembodiments, each window may be a separate feature of the collaborativeeffort system. Thus, the illustration of FIG. 2 is not intended to belimiting but rather is provided for illustrative and discussionpurposes.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a non-limiting example of a user interface forauthorization and grouping will now be provided. The user interface 300may be substantially similar to the user interface 200 of FIG. 2 anddescribed above, and thus the description of the same or similarfeatures will not be repeated herein for simplicity. Within the secondwindow 304 of the user interface 300, i.e., the chat area, multipleparallel threads 305 may be presented, wherein each thread 305 may be alog element of the collaborative effort system. Each thread 305 can becommented on individually and can be created for different purposes. Forexample, a thread could be created asking a user or group of users toinvestigate a particular aspect of the problem. As another example, athread could be created for a whole team, e.g., a group of users, tofocus on one area of the problem. In such divisions, only certain usersmay need or have access to the associated thread, but may not need or beentitled to have access to other portions of the collaborative effort.For example, if trade secret or other sensitive information is beingconsidered in the problem solving, it may be beneficial to enable accessto the information to certain users, but also to enable other users toparticipate in the collaborative effort.

In one example configuration, a default setting may be that any userhaving access to the collaborative effort system may have access to whatis happening in all threads, i.e., all users may have all-access to theentire system. However, when a new thread is created, a user can limitaccess to the new thread. For example, the creator of the new thread maybe able to provide a list of users that should have visibility to thenew thread and the ability to participate in the thread. In such anexample, the list of authorized users may be selected from a drop-downmenu, check-box list, etc. that provides a list of all users, usergroups, and/or combinations thereof that are participating in thecollaborative effort system.

In this manner, a user that creates a thread is enabled to identifydifferent users or user groups for different threads. In anotherexample, different groups of users may have access to different threads,and at least one coordinator may have access or visibility across allthreads. As used herein a coordinator may be a manager or other userthat has access to all threads, and all other users may have access to asubset of the threads. In some embodiments, multiple coordinators mayparticipate in the collaborative effort system, and in some suchembodiments, each coordinator may have access to a sub-set, with nocoordinator having access to all threads. Such situations may arise whentwo companies are addressing a problem and both companies haveconfidential information, and so the access may only overlap to a sharedthread, and then the users from the two companies may have access onlyto specific subsets of the threads of the collaborative effort system.

As shown in FIG. 3, each thread 305 may have an access indicator 307.The access indicator 307 may be a list of the users or user groups thathave access to the particular thread 305. As shown in the example ofFIG. 3, there are four threads 305 defined. Further, in this example,users A, B, C, D, E, and G, and visitors V1 and V2 have access to atleast parts of the collaborative effort system. In this example, usersA, B, and C have access to the first thread 305. Users C, D, and E haveaccess to the second thread 305. Users A and E and visitor V1 haveaccess to the third thread 305, and users A and G and visitor V2 haveaccess to the fourth thread 305. As illustrated, none of the users orvisitors have access to all of the threads. A coordinator, not shown,may have access to all of the threads 305.

As shown, FIG. 3 illustrates when an outsider or visitor may be grantedaccess to part of the collaborative effort system. This may be used forthe case where a user of the collaborative effort system has includedout-of-network support to some other users, e.g., a coordinator needs togrant access to persons not within a company. In such cases, thecoordinator may invite the visitors to the collaborative effort system.During this process the coordinator may limit the visitor access to seeonly threads, or portions thereof, that are relevant to the visitor'sparticipation.

As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, users and/orvisitors, hereinafter “user” or “users,” may be added and removed fromany thread or group of threads. Further, this may be done in an ongoingbasis as need arises in a particular situation. In some embodiments,when a new user gains access to a new thread, the entire thread may bepresent for the new user such that they can view the entire transcriptof that particular thread. In an alternative embodiment, a new user mayonly be able to see content that is generated in the thread from thepoint the new user is granted access. A new user granted access to theentire collaborative effort system may view or be shown only the threadsthe new user has been granted access to. Further, in some embodiments,the new user may only be able to view the list 306 b of participantsthat have access to the same thread(s) as the new user.

Turning now to FIG. 4, and alternative embodiment of the presentdisclosure is shown. The embodiment of FIG. 4 may be substantiallysimilar to that shown and described with respect to FIG. 3, and thus thesimilar features will not be described again for simplicity. The primarydifference in the embodiment of FIG. 4 may be how the user affiliations(i.e., user access) is displayed. In FIG. 3, access indicator 307 isused, which indicates users having access to various threads. In theembodiment of FIG. 4, color coding 408 may be used for the threads 405in the second window 404 of the user interface 400. The users displayedin the list 406 b, in the third winder 406, may also indicate the colorcoding 408 to help identify which specific threads 405 uses have accessto.

In addition to the above described authorization and separation of usersbetween threads within the collaborative effort systems, some contextmay be shared across all users in the collaborative effort system. Forexample, any specific resources identified as relevant to the problembeing addressed. In such an example, the specific resources may be whatone or more users have identified as the potential culprit in theproblem. All users may be able to view and/or access the specificresource(s) and use it to aid in the user's diagnostics. Further,although not shown herein, those of skill in the art will appreciatethat the user interface of the collaborative effort system may include asummary view in one of the windows, e.g., the third window, where eachuser or group of users, e.g., a team, can provide updates and/orstatements on progress. In this manner the collaborative effort can bepartitioned multiple ways (e.g., by user(s), by threads, bytechnologies, etc.) and it may be easy to see the entire view whileenabling sharing of context across all users of the collaborative effortsystem.

Turning now to FIG. 5, a process flow 500 for managing users in acollaborative effort system in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure is shown. Process flow 500 may be similar to thatdescribed above, and may be implemented on a host system and/or a usersystem. Process flow 500 may represent the operation of a collaborativeeffort system that is used by one or more users to solve an identifiedproblem, but may also be used in any group discussion format, system,program, application, etc.

A collaborative effort system may be formed, as shown at block 502. Theformation of the collaborative effort system may be implemented on ahost system and/or a user system and may be used to enable multipleusers to collaborate to solve a problem. The collaborative effort systemmay receive input to form one or more threads, and in this example,multiple threads will be created, as shown at block 504. Each thread maybe formed for a specific task to be solved and/or for a specificpurpose, such as a discussion on a particular topic, etc.

Next, as shown at block 506, one or more users may be authorized orgranted access to one or more of the threads. The user may be able toparticipate and view only those threads to which they have access. Inone non-limiting example, a coordinator may grant the access to thespecific user. The coordinator may be a user that has “full access” oraccess to all threads and further may have authorization grantingauthority. In some embodiments there may be multiple coordinators, andsome coordinators may have authorization granting authority to a subsetof the threads of the collaborative effort system. In some embodimentsthe user may be a “visitor” that is granted limited access to thecollaborative effort system.

Further, a user may be assigned to one or more user groups, as shown atblock 508. The user group may be a group of users that are affiliated byone or more criteria, e.g., based on company, based on technology areaof expertise, based on a level of access, etc. The user groups may thenbe authorized to one or more threads, as shown at block 510. As such, agroup of users may be able to be assigned and authorized to a thread ina single action, rather than assigning each individual user to thethread or to multiple threads.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the process flow 500 mayinclude additional and/or alternative features and/or various processesmay be performed simultaneously, nearly simultaneously, and/or in adifferent order than that shown in process flow 500. For example, insome embodiments, users may be grouped into user groups prior togenerating the various threads.

Technical effects and benefits include a virtual application configuredto enable collaborative work and managing users and user groups within acollaborative work, e.g., a collaborative effort system as describedabove. Further technical effects and benefits include providing userauthorization and/or access to various elements of a collaborativeeffort system (e.g., discussion, war room, chat room, instant messaging,emails, short message service elements, blog entries, website entries,online community entries, news feed items, wiki entries, etc.) that maybe used to grant or prevent a user or group of users access to parts ofthe collaborative effort system.

As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, the collaborativeeffort system, or memory associated therewith, may be configured topersist the set of users authorized to each thread in the collaborativeeffort system, and, in aggregate, persist the set of users having accessto the entire collaborative effort system (e.g., coordinators).Furthermore, in some embodiments, a transcript or record of thediscussions taking place in the collaborative effort system may be savedspanning all threads, and the access or authorization may be savedtherewith. Thus, even after the effort is completed, the transcript maybe made available by the users (or others) with specific assignedauthorizations or levels of access. Thus, the record may be madesearchable to help with future problems.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of theorder noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method to manage useraccess to a collaborative effort system that incorporates multiplesub-discussion groups, the method comprising: providing, by a processor,a user interface allowing a first user access to the collaborativeeffort system; responsive to the first user utilizing the userinterface: generating a plurality of threads within the collaborativeeffort system for a single discussion group of the collaborative effortsystem, wherein each thread of the plurality of threads comprises adifferent sub-discussion group of the single discussion group of thecollaborative effort system; authorizing a second user access to atleast a first thread of the plurality of threads after the generation ofthe plurality of threads; associating the second user with a user groupafter the generation of the plurality of threads; and after associatingthe second user with the user group, authorizing the user group accessto at least a second thread of the plurality of threads; generating aplurality of icons displayed in the user interface for the plurality ofthreads, wherein a first icon of the plurality of icons is displayed inthe user interface in a first color coding, wherein a second icon of theplurality of icons is displayed in the user interface in a second colorcoding; generating a third and fourth icon displayed in the userinterface to indicate that the second user is authorized to access thefirst and second threads, wherein the third icon is displayed in theuser interface in the first color coding, wherein the fourth icon isdisplayed in the user interface in the second color coding, whereinauthorization to a thread comprises an ability to view and participatein the thread; and displaying in the user interface a priority of aproblem to be solved through the collaborative effort system.
 2. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first user is acoordinator that has full access to the collaborative effort system. 3.The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprisingdisplaying in the user interface impact information of the problem to besolved and status of the problem to be solved.
 4. The computerimplemented method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to thefirst user utilizing the user interface, associating a third user withthe user group after authorizing the user group access to the at leastsecond thread; and presenting an entire transcript of the at leastsecond thread to the third user after associating the third user withthe user group.
 5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: saving a content of the collaborative effort system; andsaving a record of user authorizations with the saved content.
 6. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: responsiveto the first user utilizing the user interface, authorizing the seconduser access to a subset of the plurality of threads.
 7. The computerimplemented method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying in theuser interface a list of users and the icon associated with each user.8. A system to manage user access to a collaborative effort system thatincorporates multiple sub-discussion groups, the system comprising: amemory having computer readable instructions; and a processor configuredto execute the computer readable instructions, the computer readableinstructions comprising: providing a user interface allowing a firstuser access to the collaborative effort system; responsive to the firstuser utilizing the user interface: generating a plurality of threadswithin the collaborative effort system for a single discussion group ofthe collaborative effort system, wherein each thread of the plurality ofthreads comprises a different sub-discussion group of the singlediscussion group of the collaborative effort system; authorizing asecond user access to at least a first thread of the plurality ofthreads after the generation of the plurality of threads; associatingthe second user with a user group after the generation of the pluralityof threads; and after associating the second user with the user group,authorizing the user group access to at least a second thread of theplurality of threads; generating a plurality of icons displayed in theuser interface for the plurality of threads, wherein a first icon of theplurality of icons is displayed in the user interface in a first colorcoding, wherein a second icon of the plurality of icons is displayed inthe user interface in a second color coding; generating a third andfourth icon displayed in the user interface to indicate that the seconduser is authorized to access the first and second threads, wherein thethird icon is displayed in the user interface in the first color coding,wherein the fourth icon is displayed in the user interface in the secondcolor coding, wherein authorization to a thread comprises an ability toview and participate in the thread; and displaying in the user interfacea priority of a problem to be solved through the collaborative effortsystem.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first user is acoordinator that has full access to the collaborative effort system. 10.The system of claim 8, wherein the computer readable instructionsfurther comprise displaying in the user interface impact information ofthe problem to be solved and status of the problem to be solved.
 11. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein the computer readable instructions furthercomprise: responsive to the first user utilizing the user interface,associating a third user with the user group after authorizing the usergroup access to the at least second thread; and presenting an entiretranscript of the at least one thread to the third user afterassociating the third user with the user group.
 12. The system of claim8, wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise: saving acontent of the collaborative effort system; and saving a record of userauthorizations with the saved content.
 13. The system of claim 8,wherein the rule based algorithm comprises: responsive to the first userutilizing the user interface, authorizing the second user access to asubset of the plurality of threads.
 14. The system of claim 8, whereinthe computer readable instructions further comprise: displaying in theuser interface a list of users and the icon associated with each user.15. A computer program product to manage user access to a collaborativeeffort system that incorporates multiple sub-discussion groups, thecomputer program product comprising a computer readable storage mediumhaving program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructionsexecutable by a processor to cause the processor to: provide a userinterface allowing a first user access to the collaborative effortsystem; responsive to the first user utilizing the user interface:generate a plurality of threads within the collaborative effort systemfor a single discussion group of the collaborative effort system,wherein each thread of the plurality of threads comprises a differentsub-discussion group of the single discussion group of the collaborativeeffort system; authorize a second user access to at least a first threadof the plurality of threads after the generation of the plurality ofthreads; associate the second user with a user group after thegeneration of the plurality of threads; and authorize the user groupaccess to at least a second thread of the plurality of threads after thesecond user is associated with the user; generate a plurality of iconsdisplayed in the user interface for the plurality of threads, wherein afirst icon of the plurality of icons is displayed in the user interfacein a first color coding, wherein a second icon of the plurality of iconsis displayed in the user interface in a second color coding; generate athird and fourth icon displayed in the user interface to indicate thatthe second user is authorized to access the first and second threads,wherein the third icon is displayed in the user interface in the firstcolor coding, wherein the fourth icon is displayed in the user interfacein the second color coding, wherein authorization to a thread comprisesan ability to view and participate in the thread; and displaying in theuser interface a priority of a problem to be solved through thecollaborative effort system.
 16. The computer program product of claim15, wherein the first user is a coordinator that has full access to thecollaborative effort system.
 17. The computer program product of claim15, the program instructions executable by a processor furtherconfigured to cause the processor to: responsive to the first userutilizing the user interface, associate a third user with the user groupafter the user group is authorized to access to the at least secondthread; and presenting an entire transcript of the at least one threadto the third user after associating the third user with the user group.18. The computer program product of claim 15, the program instructionsexecutable by a processor further configured to cause the processor to:save a content of the collaborative effort system; and save a record ofuser authorization with the saved content.
 19. The computer programproduct of claim 15, the program instructions executable by a processorfurther configured to cause the processor to: responsive to the firstuser utilizing the user interface, authorize the second user access to asubset of the a plurality of threads.
 20. The computer program productof claim 15, the program instructions executable by a processor furtherconfigured to cause the processor to: display in the user interface alist of users and the icon associated with each user.